Commons
Westminster Hall
12 November 2025
3 contributions
SEND Provision: Kent
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir John. I thank my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Folkestone and Hythe (Tony Vaughan) for securing this incredibly important debate. We have had a number of debates in this Chamber about the SEND crisis, particularly in Kent.
I speak as t…
When the previous Conservative Government introduced the safety valve scheme, which was essentially a blank cheque or a credit card, did they have a plan for how the money would be paid back?
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Proceedings
5 November 2025
Conflict in Sudan
With regard to the attack on the hospital, it is estimated that 80% of health facilities in conflict-affected regions are no longer operating, and those that are operating face shortages of medicines and supplies. That is leading to a resurgence of cholera, measles, dengue fever and malaria, as well…
Commons
Oral Questions
21 October 2025
2 contributions
Cancer Diagnoses
8. What steps his Department is taking to reduce the time taken for cancer diagnoses.
A local teacher went to her GP with clear symptoms of a facial tumour but was told it was simply the effects of age. It took almost two years to receive a confirmed diagnosis, including eight months lost in the system after an urgent referral. Does the Minister agree that reducing times for cancer d…
Commons
Debate
20 October 2025
Post-16 Education and Skills Strategy
I recently had the pleasure of visiting North Kent College in Gravesend, which is one of the 10 new construction technical excellence colleges. The announcement of the new V-levels is a welcome step, giving vocational education real parity of esteem with academic and technical routes. Can the Secret…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
15 October 2025
Pride in Place
I welcome the Minister to her place. I thank her for Gravesham’s share of the pride in place impact fund; £1.5 million over two years is a really great investment, so that we can restart building communities and place—and there are new possibilities that once could only have been imagined. These pri…
Commons
Westminster Hall
15 October 2025
Educational Assessment System Reform
I was a teacher of chemistry and science. Under the new curriculum that was instigated by the Conservative Government, young people had to learn 19 equations for physics, including mass, units and all of that. I can go to Google and ask for that, but as a scientist, what I need is scientific inquiry…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
14 October 2025
Northern Ireland Troubles
I welcome the Secretary of State’s commitment to new protections for veterans. Will he update the House on the discussions that he and Ministry of Defence Ministers have had with veterans and their representative groups about the measures?
Commons
Westminster Hall
15 September 2025
Children with SEND: Assessments and Support
Kent county council has spent over £1.1 billion, including in my constituency, on legal fees to fight families. That is nearly 80% of its yearly revenue. Does the hon. Member agree that, for parents and families up against that system, the money would be better spent on provision for their children?
Commons
Debate
11 September 2025
2 contributions
Regional Transport Inequality
I am incredibly grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Derby North (Catherine Atkinson) for bringing forward this important debate. She spoke with passion about the subject.
The south-east can be described as leafy and rich, with Kent being the garden of England, but parts of that garden have be…
The hon. Member and I share a passion for ferries. My ferry no longer runs, so despite having a local government agency that could intervene and supply a ferry, it let go of that contract. I will continue to bang that drum, because ferries are an incredibly important mode of transport for so many pe…
Commons
Debate
11 September 2025
Life Sciences Investment
I welcome the Minister to his place. This is devastating news for the research scientists and the fantastic work they do on neuroscience, inflammation and immunology. Some of that is being carried out at the Francis Crick Institute, where I declare I am unpaid visiting research scientist. Does the M…
Commons
Oral Questions
11 September 2025
2 contributions
Transport: Economic Growth
23. What steps she is taking to ensure that the transport system supports economic growth.
Given the scale of the disruption that Gravesham faces during the construction of the lower Thames crossing, what steps will the Secretary of State take to ensure that a new transport system there supports real jobs for local people and has wider economic benefit? For example, reinstating the Tilbur…
Commons
Westminster Hall
22 July 2025
Humanitarian Situation in Sudan
I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this important debate. In addition to the cholera, there is also malaria, which kills thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of children every year. There is also mycetoma—a new, neglected disease that literally takes the skin, muscle and bone off people. …
Commons
Westminster Hall
16 July 2025
Blue Badge Eligibility
I have constituents who are helping to support their children through cancer treatment. They applied for a blue badge; only after the child’s treatment was, thankfully, successful did the application come back with a no or yes. The focus should be on getting well, not battling a system. I pay tribut…
Commons
Westminster Hall
15 July 2025
SEND Provision: South-east England
What I have heard from parents in Gravesham, and what I know from my time on Kent county council, is that we have sleepwalked into this crisis. For decades, we have not been listening to the needs of young people. Parents simply want a lawful system—one applied lawfully, with support given at the ri…
Commons
Westminster Hall
15 July 2025
Women and Girls with Autism: Mental Health Support
In the new training regimen, can we please ensure that parents are believed? Young women and young girls often mask very well in schools where all the professionals are, but then at home they can explode and have meltdowns. Some parents are not believed at that stage. Will that also be included in t…
Commons
Debate
3 July 2025
4 contributions
Gravesham: River Crossings
I thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, for this opportunity to come to the House to discuss the importance of river crossings in my constituency of Gravesham. I am grateful to the Minister for giving up his time today to respond to the debate.
I wish to cover two crossings: one old and closed, which is…
Our petitions, which have garnered thousands of signatures, call for the return of the ferry service. It is clear that businesses and residents want their ferry back.
At present, there is a desire for people to travel by public transport, which I support. People should leave their cars at home, but…
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Ministerial Statement
3 July 2025
NHS 10-Year Plan
I thank the Secretary of State for his statement today. I welcome the move to community delivery, greater accountability of providers and ICBs, and power to the patients. As a research scientist—I declare an interest as an unpaid visiting researcher at the Francis Crick Institute— I welcome the reco…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
30 June 2025
Welfare Reform
I thank the Secretary of State for her statement. PIP is, of course, a passport to freedom for many other things such as the carer’s allowance, and many local authorities use PIP for blue badges and bus passes. Does the Secretary of State have a plan to mitigate the impact of the potential changes t…
Commons
Debate
19 June 2025
Water Safety Education
I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Southampton Itchen (Darren Paffey) for leading this debate on an incredibly important issue—one that is felt by myself and many constituents. It was only a few weeks ago, at the end of May, that two children entered the River Thames in Gravesend. One child was t…
Commons
Debate
19 June 2025
2 contributions
Incontinence
I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Dudley (Sonia Kumar) for securing this incredibly important debate; it has been absolutely wonderful listening to how it has been conducted. As has been said, this debate is often overlooked, and it is occurring in World Continence Week.
Bladder and bowel contr…
I agree. The community toilet scheme in Gravesham has been a good success. However, the issue of course comes down to vandalism. Councils cannot see this as an easy way to cut money. It needs to be a statutory duty, so I support the bid of my hon. Friend the Member for Penrith and Solway to make it …
Commons
Ministerial Statement
19 June 2025
UK Infrastructure: 10-year Strategy
I welcome the Green Book review of the co-ordination of joined-up infrastructure thinking—thank you so much. Promises have previously been made to local places affected by major infrastructure projects that they would see some local benefits. With that in mind, and with the lower Thames crossing com…
Commons
Proceedings
19 June 2025
Business of the House
Earlier this week, the Department for Transport increased the costs of using the Dartford crossing. That will impact Gravesham residents and businesses, which do not get the resident discount scheme. With the announcement this week of the funding for the lower Thames crossing, will the Leader of the…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
11 June 2025
Spending Review 2025
I thank the Chancellor for the spending review. Local austerity is over—after being a local councillor for nearly a decade, I thank her for that. Labour-led Gravesham council has given thousands of permissions for stalled brownfield sites, many of which are needed for the homes that we need in Grave…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
5 June 2025
Free School Meals
Does the Minister agree that, with today’s announcement, alongside the proactive Gravesham borough council’s low-income family tracker programme, which has reached out and helped hundreds, if not thousands, of people who need it most in Gravesham, the Labour Government will lift a further 5,800 chil…
Commons
Oral Questions
Scotland
4 June 2025
2 contributions
Town Centre Regeneration
7. What steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to regenerate town centres in Scotland.
Does the Secretary of State agree that it was astonishing that the SNP voted against the £8 million to regenerate Hamilton town centre and that only Labour’s Davy Russell will stand up for local people, jobs and services?